ride for africycle day ten (part two)

uxbridge to peterborough

100 km (part two)

after riding through the countryside south of lindsay we hooked up with

the rail trail that runs between omemee and peterborough.

i've used this trail many times before, most especially to bike out to omemee

to pick up some of the most very best buttertarts in this universe at ruby's roost.

the coffee there is excellent and the owners are fun and lovely.

so we got on the trail and the feeling of being almost home was palpable for some of us.

some of the riders still had a long way to go -

airplane flights and car drives were still between them and home.

the trail is made of well-packed very fine gravel and makes for excellent riding

if you watch out for the odd soft spot or wash-out.

eventually we found ourselves crossing a completely rebuilt rail trestle that has the most incredible views.

first some posing.

and then some admiring of the view.

and what a view it is!

and then in what seemed like a matter of minutes we were making our way through the streets of downtown peterborough and on our way (well i was definitely on my way) to an americano at the silver bean.

it was so strange to sit in the bean with some of the africycle riders.

the context of connection was so different.

people wandered in and congratulated us which was nice.

but it seemed sort of anti-climactic to be sitting down - the ride at an end.

it was a journey that felt like it should have no end.

in some ways it doesn't.

the work we did raised money for a project that will have lasting and meaningful effects.

friendships were forged on the ride that will also have lasting and meaningful effects.

a few of us left the bean and wandered through an area that was celebrating the annual ribfest event.

to our great fortune we ran into a guy from the steam whistle brewery down in toronto who wanted to know what we were about and when we told him he gave us free beers in fact he said we could have as many as we wanted but with some of us still needing to ride on our bikes to get home we were careful. too bad actually it was really good, cold beer.

my ride through downtown peterborough and out to the west end where i live was hilarious and bizarre. i had two near traffic accidents - both my fault - and both because i was feeling that post major achievement euphoria that just rushes through you.

happily i made it home and my family were happy to see me.

after everything and everyone had settled down i dumped out my clothes.

the smell was so bad!

so really really bad!

rotten swamp. decay. mold.

those would describe the stench.

the picture doesn't tell the story but here's my stuff dumped and waiting to go in the washer.

some of it still smells funky after several washes.

scratch your screen for a scratch and sniff sensation - or not!

here's the google map for the stretch from uxbridge to peterborough.

it doesn't include the extra 10 km i rode in order to get home!

i hope you enjoyed this ride with me.

i've committed to next year's ride already.

somebody said to me "i guess it's like having babies, you forget the pain pretty quickly!"

i guess that must be true.

come back to my cycles blog for more rides - they'll be shorter that's for sure.

for further information about the ride for africycle you should go to the africycle main page

and the ride for africycle page.